By Kingston Magare 27.11.2025
Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has safely departed from Guinea-Bissau after being trapped alongside other West African and African Union election monitoring officials in the country.
On Wednesday, the army forcibly took over the reins of power a few days after the presidential election won by the incumbent President Umaro Sissoco Embaló.
Spokesperson for Mr. Jonathan, Kimiebi Ebenfa disclosed Thursday that the former President finally left country in a specially arranged flight, which also ferried out other election monitoring officials.
“Former President Jonathan is very safe and out of Guinea-Bissau,” he said.
“He left with a special flight with members of his delegation including Ibn Chambas.”
Jonathan was a part of a 36-member high-level joint election observation mission deployed by the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the West African Elders Forum (WAEF) to monitor the November 23 presidential and legislative elections.
With borders closed and the situation tense, the visiting heads of mission, including Jonathan, remain in the country under restricted movement.
In a joint statement issued in Bissau on Wednesday and signed by heads of the three observer missions, the AU, ECOWAS and WAEF condemned the coup and described it as a “blatant attempt to disrupt the democratic process”.